Death
sentence reduced for one of murderous pair
2007/09/27
FUKUOKA
(Kyodo) The Fukuoka High Court on Wednesday upheld the
death penalty for a man deemed the main culprit in the
deaths of seven people, including five of his common-law
wife's relatives, from 1996 to 1998 in Kitakyushu.
The sentence issued to his common-law wife was reduced from
capital punishment to life in prison.
Futoshi Matsunaga, 46, and Junko Ogata, 45, conspired to
torture a 34-year-old man to death in February 1996 and
then to murder five of Ogata's relatives, including her
mother, in an apartment the couple shared with Ogata's
family over a period of seven months ending in June 1998,
according to a lower court ruling in September 2005.
The couple were also responsible for the death of Ogata's
father, who died of injuries inflicted by the couple,
although they did not intend to kill him, the 2005 ruling
said.
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★２００７年（平成１９年)９月２６日、福岡高裁で北九州市の監禁・連続殺人事件で、殺人罪などに問われ、１審・福岡地裁小倉支部で死刑判決を受けた松永太（４６歳）、緒方純子（４５歳）両被告の控訴審判決があった。虎井寧夫（やすお）裁判長は「緒方被告は松永被告の主導の下、追従的に犯行に関与した。積極的に自白し、事案解明に寄与した」と述べ、緒方被告については１審判決を破棄し、無期懲役とした。松永被告については「我が国の犯罪史上、まれに見る冷酷、残忍で凶悪な事犯を主導した。反省も見られない」として１審判決を支持し、控訴を棄却した。松永被告は上告する方針。緒方被告は判決内容を慎重に検討するとしている。判決は２００５年９月の１審判決と同様に、６人について殺人罪、誉さん事件に傷害致死罪を適用し、他にも女性への監禁致傷罪、別の女性への監禁致傷、強盗、詐欺罪を認定した